Watch – Secrets in South Africa: American spooks and an alleged Afghan tik trafficker

A confidential US Drug Enforcement Administration source bought a methamphetamine sample in a Johannesburg parking lot in December 2024, evidence now central to a federal case against former Afghan politician Abdul Zahir Qadeer. Qadeer, once a general in Afghanistan’s Border Force, was arrested in Kenya in April 2025 and extradited to the United States, where he faces charges of conspiring to traffic narcotics and heavy weapons internationally. Journalist Caryn Dolley traces South Africa's role in the case, drawing on a DEA agent's criminal complaint.

Reporting by: Caryn Dolley
Edited by: Anda Tolibadi
Filmed by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade
Sub-edited by: Kevin Flynn

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If you happened to be in a parking lot near a Johannesburg restaurant on the 10^th of December 2024 and spotted someone taking a black bag out of a car, you may have witnessed a drug deal. But this wasn’t just any drug deal. It involved a witness secretly working with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. And it allegedly connects to an ex-politician from Afghanistan now accused of conspiring to traffic heavy weapons and masses of narcotics internationally.

This case highlights potentially dodgy government dealings and it ties illicit drug activities in South Africa to locations ranging from poppy fields in Afghanistan to buildings in New York.

It also points to how secret witnesses for the US, as well as foot soldiers of alleged global crime kingpins, are active in Mzansi.

You might be wondering what I am talking about?

The US’s case against former Afghan politician Abdul Zahir Qadeer, also known as Haji Abdul Zahir.

He was once a general in Afghanistan’s Border Force and is a former member of Afghanistan’s National Assembly, the legislature there until the Taliban regained control in 2021.

Qadeer was arrested in Kenya in April 2025 – Kenya, by the way, is pivotal to drug trafficking in South Africa. It’s something I explain in my book, The Untouchables: Drug lords, dirty cops and South Africa’s darkest secrets.

A few months after his 2025 arrest, Qadeer was extradited to the US where he is now accused of conspiring to traffic drugs and weapons.

He previously denied the accusations, saying they’re politically motivated.

Here’s the thing.

South Africa, Johannesburg in particular, has emerged as a pivotal location to the drugs side of this global scandal.

Nicholas DiFrancesco, a US Drug Enforcement Administration - DEA - special agent filed a complaint against Qadeer that alleges how this country fits in.

What I reference next is all from his complaint.

A confidential source working for the DEA, identified as CS-1, started communicating with Qadeer in November 2024. They used encrypted platforms to keep in touch.

CS-1 had apparently pretended to be part of a drug trafficking organisation and allegedly communicated with Qadeer about just that - drugs. (And later heavy weapons.)

On the 9^th of November 2024, Qadeer sent CS-1 photographs of himself surrounded by armed guards.

A message accompanied Qadeer’s photographs: “[T]ell them this is my friend.” It looked like Qadeer was posturing, showing off his clout to CS1’s purported drug trafficking syndicate. CS-1 told Qadeer that his traffickers wanted a heroin sample delivered to Africa and Qadeer apparently explained that “the Taliban controlled Afghanistan, causing the price of … kilograms of drugs… there to fluctuate, but that if Qadeer had money and a strong team, the Taliban would cooperate with him.”

Qadeer had also allegedly insinuated that he would contact government officials in Afghanistan involved in purchasing “poppy land,” in other words, land used for heroin production.

This is where we get to South Africa.

CS-1 told Qadeer that aside from heroin, his “drug trafficking organisation” also wanted a sample of methamphetamine, commonly known here as tik.

In December 2024, another secret DEA source, identified as CS-2, essentially paid over around 14,000 US dollars to an individual in Afghanistan for that methamphetamine sample.

And now, this is important, we get to 10 December 2024.

An individual, who identified himself as “Lucky,” contacted CS-2 and said they should meet at a restaurant in Johannesburg – this relates to the methamphetamine sample. It happened later that day and after a brief conversation at the restaurant, Lucky told CS-2 to follow him to a nearby parking lot.

Once there, Lucky opened the back door of his vehicle enabling CS-2 to retrieve a black bag inside it. Lucky apparently said that the drugs in the bag were of good quality.

CS-2 left… and took the bag as evidence to South African law enforcers.

Inside were plastic containers holding what turned out to be two kilograms of methamphetamine that US authorities allege was organised by Qadeer.

So, there we have it.

A drug deal in a Johannesburg parking lot, involving confidential US sources, is now pivotal to the major narco and guns trafficking conspiracy charges Qadeer of Afghanistan faces in America, where he was extradited to from Kenya.

Qadeer’s previous insistence that he’s innocent aside, this case still reiterates the global reach of trafficking and emphasises how entangled South Africa is in vast criminal webs. DM